Gary Harkins (born 2 January 1985) is a Scottish professional footballer and coach who plays as a midfielder.
Having come through the youth academies at Celtic and Blackburn Rovers he would notably play in the Scottish Premiership for Kilmarnock, Dundee and St. Mirren. He also played in the English Football League for Huddersfield Town, Bury, Blackpool, Grimsby Town and Oldham Athletic, and in the Scottish Football League for Partick Thistle, Ayr United, Greenock Morton, Queen of the South, Stenhousemuir and Forfar Athletic. While at Forfar, he would also perform the role of first team coach, and later assistant manager.
Playing career
Blackburn Rovers
Harkins started out as a schoolboy player with Celtic before joining Blackburn Rovers as a YTS player when he was sixteen years old. He was appointed a trainee at Ewood Park in August 2003 but although he appeared in the academy and reserve teams, he did not play a competitive first team game for the club. Harkins joined Huddersfield Town on loan in March 2004, where he made only three appearances before returning to Blackburn in June. The arrival of Mark Hughes as manager of Blackburn in September 2004 saw Harkins called up to play with the first team in a number of pre-season friendlies, with Hughes apparently seeing potential in his future as a central defender. He joined Bury in February 2005, for whom he played five times in a month-long spell, and in November 2005, Harkins joined Blackpool on loan for one month, where he made six appearances, scoring two goals.
Grimsby Town
In July 2006, Harkins joined Grimsby Town on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut on 5 August 2006 in the club's 3–2 victory over Boston United and made 20 appearances in total for Grimsby in the 2006–07 season. His spell at Grimsby was an unhappy one, with factors including homesickness and a falling-out with manager Alan Buckley (who joined the club in November 2006), and at the end of the 2006–07 season, Buckley allowed Harkins to look for another club. Instead, Harkins was released by the club several weeks later.
Partick Thistle (first spell) Harkins then moved to his native Scotland, and after a trial signed a one-year contract with Scottish First Division club Partick Thistle in July 2007. While he started out at Thistle playing as a defender, his move into midfield let him play in a more attacking role. Harkins made 39 appearances in the 2007–08 season, scoring three goals, and signed a one-year contract with the club in April 2008. In the 2008–09 season, scoring 11 goals. he was Thistle's top goalscorer with 11 goals from 40 appearances, and was nominated for the First Division's Player of the Year award; he had been named the Scottish Football League Player of the Month for February 2009. At the end of the season, Harkins was offered a new contract with the club, but he reportedly rejected a deal, something that was denied by Ian McCall.
Dundee (first spell) After a protracted effort in which they had two offers turned down, Dundee signed Harkins in July 2009 for a fee of £150,000 plus future fees. He made 42 appearances for Dundee in the 2009–10 season, scoring 17 goals, won the SFL Player of the Month for August 2009, and was nominated for Scotland's Player of the Year for the First Division. He also scored one of Dundee's goals as they won the 2009 Scottish Challenge Cup Final.
At the start of the 2010–11 season, Harkins was named captain after being given the armband by manager Gordon Chisholm. Having been appointed, Harkins said he would try his best to become a captain. He made a further 38 appearances, scoring five goals, in a troubled 2010–11 season for Dundee in which the club was penalised 25 points by the Scottish Football League in November 2010 after going into administration. Harkins admitted that seeing Dundee in administration was the darkest day of his career. At the end of the season, Harkins was nominated for SFL Player of the Year in the First Division.
Kilmarnock
In June 2011, Harkins left Dundee to sign for Kilmarnock for an undisclosed fee, exercising an option to leave agreed when Dundee went into administration in the previous November. He made his first appearance for the Ayrshire side on 24 July, in a 1–1 draw with Dundee United at Tannadice and scored his first goal for the club in a 5–0 win over Queen of the South in the Scottish League Cup 3rd round, only 90 seconds into the match. On 18 March, he played in the 2012 Scottish League Cup Final which Kilmarnock won after beating Celtic 1–0. Harkins found it difficult to reproduce the performances before his move to Kilmarnock, after sustaining to an ankle injury.